Abstract
BACKGROUND: Soybean (Glycine max) is an important food crop in China. In recent years, the continuous deterioration of environmental conditions has significantly affected the growth and development of soybean, particularly under drought stress. Ethylene-responsive element binding factor (ERF) transcription factors, which are unique to plants, play crucial roles in various physiological and biochemical processes during plant growth and development. RESULTS: In this study, RNA sequencing technology was used to analyze the transcriptome of the drought-resistant cultivated variety, combining transcriptome data from different tissue sites and different abiotic stresses, I found 8 highly expressed genes (GmERF45, GmERF50, GmERF78, GmERF95, GmERF108, GmERF205, GmERF249, GmERF252) in different tissue sites and 4 highly expressed genes (GmERF35, GmERF98, GmERF120, GmERF205) under different abiotic stresses. And the transcriptome results were validated by fluorescence qRT-PCR. The results showed that drought treatment induced significant upregulation of the expression of two genes (GmERF98, GmERF205), while salt stress treatment induced significant upregulation of the expression of four genes (GmERF45, GmERF50, GmERF205, GmERF251). In both transcriptome data and fluorescence quantitative analysis, the GmERF205 gene was significantly upregulated. Therefore, GmERF205 was selected as the target gene for subsequent experiments. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that this gene is a novel member of the ERF family. To investigate the role of GmERF205 in drought stress, we conducted fluorescence quantitative PCR, which revealed that this gene positively regulated plant responses to drought stress. Furthermore, we predicted that this transcription factor would be localized in the nucleus, a hypothesis that was confirmed by subcellular localization experiments. This study on the GmERF205 gene provides foundational information for the development of new drought-resistant soybean germplasm. Under simulated drought conditions, the overexpression of GmERF205 enhanced plant growth and root development. Notably, in field trials, plants overexpressing GmERF205 exhibited significant yield improvements compared with control varieties and gene-edited plants. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the soybean GmERF205 gene can enhance the ability of plants to withstand drought, thereby providing a basis for the development of new drought-resistant soybean germplasm.